|
Published: July 25, 2007
“We object to the lack of dignity in the skinning of the bodies”
Fetuses, corpses and body parts on display at macabre exhibition in San Diego (Part III)
This is the third and final part of a three-part series.
(To read Part I Click Here.)
(To read Part IIClick Here.)
Michelle K. Gross, a member of Chabad of University City, and two other women have been passing out informational fliers about the Bodies exhibit on Sundays behind the Macy’s store at Westfield University Towne Center in La Jolla, where the exhibit is currently on display.
 “The flier contains quotes from the show’s medical director, a professor emeritus from the University of Michigan, on the origins of the twenty-one Chinese people on display,” said Gross. “The flier also contains portions from the California State Health and Safety Code on the procedure in this state for assigning unclaimed dead bodies to medical schools for educational purposes.”
On Gross’ web site (www.92122.blogspot.com), she outlines several sections of the California Health and Safety Code pertaining to the procurement, handling and interment of dead bodies, including requirements for notifying relatives, inspecting bodies for disease, and recording vital statistics.
Gross also points out that the Code contains a “huge loophole,” which states certain persons who “act in accordance with... the applicable anatomical gift law of another state or a foreign country or attempts in good faith to do so is not liable for that act in a civil action or criminal proceeding.”
Gross has also been in contact with San Diego city officials regarding the exhibit’s presence within the mall. In correspondence with Gross, San Diego senior city planner Chris Larson stated the Bodies exhibit “was reviewed as a Process 1 building permit to allow for a tenant improvement. A process 1 building permit is not subject to a public process and the City is required by law to issue a permit if a proposal complies with applicable laws and regulations. The City does not consider the use to be a morgue or to be adult entertainment.”
Gross raises several objections to the Bodies exhibit. On the San Diego Jewish World web site, she wrote: “We object to the lack of public disclosure at the show itself on the origins of the bodies on display. We object to the lack of modesty accorded the bodies by their being un-covered. I know of no other legal display of human remains -- in a museum, at a center for medical education, or at a funeral hall -- that allows for the entire corpse to be on view. We object to the lack of dignity in the skinning of the bodies, and their muscles being painted to suit the so-called educational component of the display.
“We object to the claim of artistic creativity in the positioning of the bodies as if they were still alive to enjoy athletic pursuits like soccer. We object to the marketing of this show to children as young as four years old as an educational experience, without any recognition of the need for respect when learning anatomy directly from the human form.”
Gross said she welcomes others to join her outside the exhibition on Sundays.
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007 7:34 AM By Michelle K. Gross
Please let me offer an update. Since I obtain a permit from Westfield on Tuesdays for the following Sunday, I am never sure until Thursday when I get my phone call back whether I will be able to use a designated "non-commercial expressive activity" area at UTC.
The area is behind Macy's, on the south side of UTC. Only three people whose names have been presented in advance to UTC are allowed to speak with strangers. If you are interested in helping, you need to sign an agreement with Westfield LLC. Westfield LLC graciously supplies a table and three chairs for the designated activity.
If you are interested in helping, you can
(a) come visit the three of us while we hand out flyers
(b) apply for a permit to speak with strangers and distribute flyers and hold two signs
(c) write to Westfield UTC and your City Council Member
http://westfield.com/utc/site/contactus/index.html
Lastly, let me stress that no protests are allowed near the exhibition itself. Speaking with strangers in that venue would draw the attention of mall security, who are authorized to contact the SDPD, Northern Division. According to Officer Wetzel a protest on the sidewalk outside the mall is acceptable without a permit, but you cannot use chalk to mark the sidewalk. He prefers you give him a call before organizing such a protest, so that staff can provide police protection. I have his number or you can speak with him via the SDPD non-emergency number: 619 (619) 531-2000. (PLEASE USE (858) 484-3154 IF YOU LIVE IN THE 858 Area Code, according to http://www.sandiego.gov/police/help/nonemergencies.shtml)
Thanks to Mrs. Mandelbaum, Mrs. Bortz, Miss Mathews, Mrs. Winick, Mrs. Navarez, and Mrs. Shatoff for having volunteered to participate in the "non-commercial express activity." Thanks to our husbands and children for having a go at a Sunday's lunch without our help and company. The other spot Westfield designate for activity is at Sears, which is still available.
---------- end
|
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007 7:47 AM By ELIZABETH
WHEN PEOPLE HAVE NO RESPECT FOR PEOPLE WHEN THEY ARE ALIVE, IS THERE NO WONDER THAT THE SAME PEOPLE HAVE NO RESPECT FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN KILLED OR DIED NATURALLY.
|
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007 8:27 AM By Lucia Yandell
Thank you, Michelle and friends from Chabad, for giving witness to the diginit of life in the face of a very horrendous offense against it. The display also brings into question not only the dubious leadership of the Chinese officials who exported this 'product' but the leadership of our own San Diego officials for allowing it's display. I'm contacting our councilmember for the area - Scott Peters.
|
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007 8:46 AM By Daniel
I hope many others join Michelle Gross to protest this human horror exhibition in San Diago. The most over used concept in today's culture is in fact to claim artistic creativity to justify attacking things that are sacred in the eyes of God. This very same concept has been used repeatedly to mock the Catholic Church and its many sacred objects and even the Sacraments of the Catholic Church itself. Michelle Gross is quite right in her protest and I pray that many people join her in her efforts to protest an exhibit that clearly denigrates and totally devalues the human body, even after death. I wish Michelle much success in all her efforts in her pursuit of this just and righteous cause. God Bless You.
|
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007 1:29 PM By Sarah
It's not just California, of course. These displays are promoted by their production companies to potential investors as 'shows' that 'last forever, similar to Cirque de Soleil'. They have two permanent exhibits, one in NY and one in Las Vegas. Then there are about 10 travelling exhibits, one currently at my local mall in Durham NC and another in Charlotte NC, as well as Columbus OH and Seattle, just off the top of my head. It will travel to Pittsburgh in October. The stock price increase of Premier Productions shows how successful they have been at marketing this as 'education', although no money goes to education. Gunther von Hagnes invented plastination and is now a multimillionaire (billionaire?), also the son of a Nazi who had to return 6 bodies to China because they had gunshot wounds to the head (oops!). We are allowing THIS MAN's brainchild to grow and fester in the minds of our children? Most people just drink the koolaid and most are oblivious that they are real bodies. But no one reports on the visitors who exit weeping because of an unexpected, overwhelming human reaction. Congratulations, Michelle, on your bravery. If you're interested in more background details, including financial and historic aspects of the exhibits you can also visit www.nobodies4profit.org. Sign the petition to close the legal loopholes!
|
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007 3:57 PM By WS
SICK SICK SICK
|
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007 6:33 PM By R.Will
Left to the devices of religious groups of any and all stripes we could be certain that we would still be operating under Aristotelian theories of science, and not under the scientific method. We could also be sure that human mortality would be much, much higher.
I’m constantly amazed by the hubris of religionists who see no ethical dilemma in acting directly to curtail the teaching of the theory or evolution, or the exploration into stem cell research because it offends their beliefs. Why is it that these people feel entirely ethical condemning others to the indignity of a slow painful death, and are happy to do in order to protect the already dead?
While decrying this display, those who act thusly invert logic and science in their quest to impose their generally empty demagoguery upon others who are not so vociferous in such an intellectually vacuous fashion.
Feel free to worship, to suffer, and to die without the benefits afforded by modern science, just don’t drag me down into the same intolerant knowledge free cesspool that would inevitably result.
If you have a problem with this display and the putative ethical and philosophical conundrums that it appears to pose to your framework of beliefs, why not move abroad and enjoy the benefits you would be afforded under a true theocracy such as those found in the Middle East. You’ll have the comforts of your faith, and in 1,500 hundred years or so who knows, you might be able to synthesize your faith with toaster ovens and root canals…personally, I prefer to afford myself the luxuries of those benefits today.
|
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007 8:24 PM By Laurette Elsberry
How ironic that this outrageous and degrading display is considered as educational and even young children are welcome to view it, but if photos of aborted babies are shown as part of an effort to educate the public to the horror of abortion, it is considered as sick, sick, sick.
|
Posted Thursday, July 26, 2007 10:26 AM By Stephen
Mr R. Will, I disagree with your analysis. You have obviously never studied scientific history. Have you heard of Ibn al-Haytham. He is a Muslim and he is credited with establishing the scientific method long before the modern secular era. He is also regarded as the father of optics. There are many other examples of religious figures that that have contributed to the growth of science. In fact, the scientific process is a natural outgrowth of religious thought. The idea that science and religion are opposed to one another is false. In fact, they mutually enrich each other. Your use of fancy intellectual words may be impressive, but your ignorance is not. Before you launch into an intellectually and morally diatribe against religious people for speaking out against the disrespect that is shown toward the deceased, you should do some basic research so that you would know what you are talking about. Have a good day, sir.
|
Posted Thursday, July 26, 2007 1:03 PM By Stephen
I meant to say "intellectually and morally vacuous diatribe" in my previous post.
|
Posted Thursday, July 26, 2007 5:55 PM By Sarah
And so, Mr. Will, I'm sure you're not suggesting that you think its ok to harvest unconsenting bodies as long as it has a goal of scientific gain? Maybe you have issue with the Catholic Church....whatever. Don't use this issue to feed incomplete arguements. With 11 body process plants rigt next to the prisons, and strong evidence from eye witnesses of police and medical students 'shopping' in the prison cemetery, I don't really think this is a singular religious issue, do you? Don't you think its a human rights issue, and you're just having a reaction because you happen to see it in this newspaper? Think about it. Isn't there some moral common ground here?
|
Posted Friday, July 27, 2007 11:14 PM By Rosemary Sporleder
This is a reflexion of how obseessed our culture is with a morbid and disrespectful few of death. What can we expect when there is so little respect for life? Let's try to make a difference. TRY to influence even one person to respect Life from birth to natural death.
|
© California Catholic Daily 2007. All Rights Reserved.
|